Method of distilling hydrocarbons and fuel produced thereby



Jan. 31, 1928. 1,657,815

L. .l'. BATES 11211101) or DISTILLI'NG 11119300111130 AND FuL PRODUCED THEREBY Filed June 5, 1926 INVENTOR.

Patented Jan. 31, 1928.

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LINDELL T. BATES, OI MOUNT LEBANON, NEW YORK.

T3013 01 DISTILLING HYDROCARBONS AND FUEL PRODUCED THEREBY.

' Application filed June 5, 1926. Serial in. 114,037.

5 ducing a. mobile or liquid fuel of the resldue with finely divide-d solid carbonaceous substance, such as coal or lignite This residue may be briquetted or used as made as a liquid fuel.

At the present time crude petroleum is distilled by itself to recover the volatiles, and to reduce a mobile or liquid mixed fuel the residue is then blended with pulverized coal or the like. Of course crude 011s may be used to make such mixed fuel, but this would be an economic waste of unrecovered volatiles. I have found, however, that if crude or partially distilled hydrocarbon liquid is mixed with solid material before topping: or further to ping, the distillation operation may 7 be con noted at the same time as" the fuel production, and with distinct technical advantages in respect to recovery and procedure.

According to this invention the occasion of blending the liquids and solids and pulverizing the latter is taken to distill the ingredients. A ball or tube mill, able to withstand heat, is preferred, since therewith and therein the coal or like solids may be further reduced in size and blended with the oil or tar or both while these are being cracked.

The mill vessel may entirely replace the stationary still or may be com ined with one or several ofthese. As crude or already partially distilled liquid which it is desired to crack further may be subjected to theprocess, the method may amount to a step in a series of distilling operations. In a continuous process of topping,.the mill or mills will be introduced between any two or more stills. In a simple topping installation no further stills than the .mill vessel are required. It is, of course, entirely possible to use a plurality of mills, heated to various temperatures, for purposes of continuous fractional distillation. New ingredients may be added as the vapors and mixed fuel are removed. The introduction of new liquid allows the material under distillation to be cracked further without solid formation in the vessel than when none is constantly or repeatedly added.

To distill the liquids, the temperature should be elevated, according to the distillate desired and the ingredients treated, to

between 175 F. and 700 F. Usually for partial topping purposes a temperature limit of about 350 F. will suffice. It is .not the purpose to distill petroleum oils much hevond removal of the gasoline, naphtha and erosene, or some of these, inasmuch asit is desired to leave a liquid residue as a base for the mixed fuel, which base is freely flowing. at normal temperatures.

The operation should continue until the desired degree of distillation has taken place. As a pulverizing mill is employed the treatment should continue until the solid material has been pulverized as well as the liquid distilled; Most of the solid particles should be able to pass a 200 mesh per linear inch screen but may be reduced even finer. The temperature need not be so elevated or maintained so long as in stationary horizontal stills because the movement of the mill and of the balls and cylinders used as inding members transmits heat through t e ingredients. Also, association of the volatiles of. the liquid with those of the solid ap parently tends to cause the volatiles of the former to carry with them some of those of the latter when the vaporizing temperature corresponding to the composite is reached. The elevated heat improves also the association of the solid and liquid for fuel pur oses and gives the composite a longer li e or period of stability than that of an ordinary mixture. As a result, the cracking operation and fuel productionare both improved over those operations performed separately.

The distillate products formed by this process are the lighter fractions derivedfrom oil or tar or mixed liquids, with some from the solid material if solids having much volatile matter have been used and the temperature has been raised suflicientlyto release them. In some cases permanent-gases will be formed, in which cases the vapors.

have to be separated from the gases in suitable condensers or separators. The mobile or liquid residue, carrying sol1d partlcles will constitute a liquid or mobile fuel. The

particles may become more or less coke or coke-like in character, depending upon the heat to which the ingredients have been subjected. A liquid fuel residue carrying from 20% to 50% of solid particles by weight of fuel is preferred and to this end the ingredients should be calibrated into the mill or'other distillation vessel in amounts to produce this result. Usually the liquid in amount twice that of the solid will be placed in the vessel prior to distillation, but other ratios may be employed. It is not advantageous to use much more than 20% of coal tar or other tar with mineral oil for simultaneous distillation.

If coal tar, lignite tar, or peat tar is used in the mill, the fuel will tend to be stable in virtue of partial peptization of the solids. In the absence or insufliciency of such digestion, materials may be added which will stabilize or promote stability of the fuel beyond the stability inherent in the intimately blended mixture. For example, small percentages or even a fraction of a percent of soap, rubber, or alkaline solution may be mixed with the fuel after production or with the ingredients before or during blending. Saponification may take place while dist lling proceeds, or previously saponified liquid may be distilled, or the fuel may be saponified after production.

The operations herein described may be combined also with the froth flotation method or other method of separating ash from coal by flotation or otherwise. Coal previously de-ashed may, of course, be used, but ash may likewise be separated from the mixture before the fuel is considered finished. In this case it is advanta eous to centrifuge the mixture as removed om the mill to reduce the amount of oil or blended liquids associated with coal, inasmuch as the same liquid is to be used for froth or granule formation. The liquid centrifuged out constitutes a good liquid fuel carrying fine coal particles not removed in the centrifuge. The remaining coal with a small or moderate percentage of oil is subjected to agitation and aeration in a vessel filled with water until a froth or granules of coal and oil are thereby formed, depending in character upon the amount of oil and the intensity of the agitation and aeration. Ash separates from the froth or granules and is removed from the flotation agitation vessel. The froth or granules are removed from the agitation vessel as in the case of minerals se aration and the purified carbonaceous pr uct may be briquetted or combined with further oil to form a liquid fuel.

Under this process the steps are corelated and synchronized so as to achieve at one time a plurality of results, thereby economizing the time and equipment involved in performing those operations in sequence.

When de-ashing is combined in this waywith topping and fuel production, the steps are intimately and operatively inter-connected. For example, the flotation oil is distilled while being blended with the coal to be purified. The same intimacy prevails if stabilizing treatment is given, since peptization or saponification or both may proceed during distillation. In these several combinations there is an interlocking and overlapping of steps several of which are performed simultaneously and in the same vessel, all working towards a common end in the production of an improved distillate and fuel.

Suitable apparatus to carry out the above described process is illustrated diagrammatically in cross section in the figure of the drawing. It should be understood that the mechanism lends itself to considerable Vilriation without departing from the scope of this invention, and that other apparatus used in cracking or fuel production may be combined therewith, for example, tar separators, de-hydrating installations, centrifuges, wash boxes, flotation vessels, storage tanks, preheaters, etc.

A coal pulverizing ball or tube mill, 1, containing a multiplicity of short steel cylinders, is mounted upon foundations 2. The mill is driven from gear 3, meshing with gear 4 which is actuatedfrom an convenient source of power through sha 5. The mill has a hollow intake 6, into which penetrates a steam pipe 7, smaller in diameter than the intake. This pipe is fitted with a valve 8 to regulate the flow of steam. If dry distillation is used, the steam pipe will be unused, or air may be injected through it or withdrawn from it. From a hopper 9 the solid material and through pipes 10 and 11 (either or both) the liquid ingredients are admitted into a mixing trough 12, connecting with the mill intake. The mill is covered with a hood 13, having a suitable flue, attached to the foundations 2. A burner 14 is fitted into the foundation and is placed under an arch 15. The flame from this burner heats the mill in the enclosed combustion chamber. The vapors and the raidue mixed with pulverized solid material pass out from the mill through a hollow outlet 16. The vapors rise through pipe 17, while the liquid mixture drops therein through valve 18 and passes into any convenient storage tank or is directly used. Pipe 17 is coiled in a water tank 19, water being admitted through valve 20 and removed through 21. The vapors are therein condensed and the distillate continues through trap 22, past a look-hole 23, through which an observer can ascertain the nature of the distillate. The three way valve 24 serves to direct the flow toward one or other of valves 25, through which, according to the nature of the distillate, the observer directs the flow into corresponding storage tanks.

It is to be understood that the sho in the drawing is merel diagrammatic a 5 that in actual practice e mill will be suitably modified to take care of the application of the heat necessary to effect the operations above set forth.

The residue may be used as it is or furare therefore calibrated into the mill or vessel in proper ratio according to the distillates and final product desired.

Having'thus described the nature of my invention and the manner of performing same, what I claim is:

1. A method of distilling coal and liquid hydrocarbon, which comprises pulverizing coal in a body of liquid hydrocarbon at a temperature suflicient to vaporize volatile matter in the coal and liquid hydrocarbon. 2. A method of producing mixed coal and oil distillate and mobile fuel residue 20 of mixed solids and liquids, which comprises pulverizing coal in a body of oil exceeding by weight that of the coal at a temperature suflicient to vaporize coal and oil volatiles but insufiicient to reduce the weight of the body of the oil below that of the coal.

3. That method of simultaneously partially distilling liquid hydrocarbon and of producing a fuel of mixed solids and liquids with the residue, which consists in introducing hydrocarbon liquid and solid carbonaceous substances into a pulverizing mill, heating the ingredients while pulverizlng the solids, separately removing the vapors and residue carrying the solid partlcles, and condensing the vapors.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

LINDELL T. BATES. 

